I blog about my jewelry inspirations. Readers will find that various elements of nature are my inspirations. Of course, I include jewelry making tips. This blog also includes some of my favorite Etsy shops, bead shops and jewelry customers.

Sunday, October 27, 2013

I am so glad that I am participating in the AJE Earring Challenge. I have met some talented artisans who sell wonderful handmade beads. For Reveal 20, I have have used beads from two of my favorite polymer clay artists.

I love blue and copper together. These earrings combine polymer clay beads with a field of willows set
on a navy blue background. Each petal is hand-sculpted and unique. These
blue petals are by polymer clay artist Humblebeads. I love all of her
intricate detailing on the beads. I combined them with blue czech glass
beads and copper.

These earrings are inspired by nature. They remind me of a walk in a meadow in the spring.

These gold earrings are made with handmade artisan teal and gold
polymer clay beads by A Polymer Pendant. I combines them with yellow swarovski crystals. I love how the
swarovski crystals catch the light. The beautiful polymer clay bead has
swirls of teal, blue and gold that remind me of a peacock feather. The
teal color looks like the Pantone color Emerald.

These earrings would be great accessories for a New Year's Eve party, wedding, or special occasion. They are very elegant.

What do you love about fall? The Fall Elements Blog Hop is
devoted to that question! The members of the blog hop share and
celebrates the wonders of fall. It may be a favorite Fall photo, a quilt
with a pumpkin motif, an acorn necklace, your favorite apple pie recipe, or
Halloween poem. Please visit all of The Autumn Elements Blog Hop Participants.
A special thanks goes to Toltec Jewels for organizing this blog hop. I hope you enjoy it!

I am happy to report that I was able to go camping this fall at Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Tetons. This trip was sandwiched in between the flood in Colorado which canceled our plans to go to Rocky Mountain National Park. We decided to extend our stay in Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Tetons.
The stay was then shorten a few days by a forecast of a major
snowfall. The weather forecast got us moving home to Delaware quickly.
We got home a few days before the Federal Government closed the
national parks.We did seen lots of gorgeous wildlife and flora. I want to share with you a few photos of the wildlife that I took this autumn in Wyoming.

To celebrate my favorite season, I also put together a digital magazine which features my jewelry that I made especially with autumn in mind. I have a sampling of some of my fall jewelry on the front cover. My favorite fall activities
center around the great outdoors. I love to go camping during this time of the year because the temperatures are perfect for it. In this magazine I have included of my
favorite wooded spots, some autumn quotes and a fun poem. Special foods are also part of my summer so you will find some
luscious recipes. This issue is about what inspires my fall
creations. I
hope you enjoy my digital magazine. Thank you for looking through my
digital magazine.

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Recently, I took a break from my baymoondesign etsy store and jewelry making and went out West. I went Mount Rushmore early one morning and spotted these folks dancing up a storm wearing lots of pink. I didn't know why but I guessed that they were connected with breast cancer survivors. I did a little research and discovered that they were part of a contest among hospitals and doing their version of the Pink Glove Dance.

Could it be any more fitting to the goal of the Pink Glove Dance itself:
to remind us of the disease that is breast cancer, but to do
it in a way that celebrates the survivor, the community and the power of a good laugh? Competitors throughout North and Central America are making the news
with the creation of their Pink Glove Dance videos. Take a look at all of the great stories and see if your town has been featured!

Voting begins October 25th. You can vote for the best choreography, most money raised for breast cancer awareness, most
people in a video, best story, most views and artist's choice! The hospital that wins the national competition will receive a $25,000
donation toward the breast cancer charity of its choice. All competing videos will be posted on the website
www.pinkglovedance.com on Oct. 25, with the voting period then running
through Nov. 8.

I found my dancers on You Tube!
To show their support in the fight against breast cancer, hundreds of
Regional Health employees in the Black Hills of South Dakota perform in
their version of the "Pink Glove Dance". More than 30 departments from
Regional Health hospitals, clinics, corporate offices, and senior care
facilities within Regional Health family participate in the video which
was filmed by Linn Productions. Local cancer survivors danced at Mt.
Rushmore and are also featured in the video.

Thursday, October 17, 2013

In July, I mentioned that I started doing yoga several years ago at the Sussex
Family YMCA in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. I have had a number of different, and all excellent yoga
instructors, but Iris has been my instructor the longest. Iris is close
to my age so it gives me hope that someday I will be able to do most
everything she can. Also, most of the folks in the class are close to
my age--old. I can do many
more poses now than when I started. Progress is slow, but steady.As you may know I spend the winter months in the Key Largo. Florida. I am happy to say that I located a wonderful yoga studio so that I can continue my practice there.

Key Largo Yoga and Holistic Health Coachingis a real challenge for me. It is very different from my experience at the Y. First of all, it is a yoga studio so it has more ambiance than the Y. Also, my instructor is younger and so is the class. I am older than the instructor by over a decade and the students; several decades. It is a humbling experience for me. I know, you aren't suppose to compare yourself to others in a class, but I can't help it! While the class is doing head stands I do something else. As winter approaches I find myself trying to mentally and physically prepare for the challenge. I have cut back on the swimming and substituted the bike twice a week. I am hoping to build my leg muscles.I have added some yoga jewelry section to my Etsy store because I love yoga and I know others who do. I have expanded the line. The ceramic buddha bracelet is the first yoga bracelet. The ceramic was made by Blu Mudd Design. I love the colors in the glaze. I hope to add a few more bracelets.

You might wonder what the connection is between Buddha and yoga. The number one thing that Buddhist practice offers is mindfulness, which
broadens your ability to manifest your values in your life. Mindfulness was the meditation Buddha himself practiced
and taught. It was his basic prescription for human suffering. Looking
at life with an open and non judgemental attention, we see our confusion
and develop insight. This is the basis of all Buddhist practice and is encouraged by the practice of yoga. ---Namaste

Sunday, October 13, 2013

I am gearing up for the holiday season in my Etsy store and for the 3 craft fairs that I am planning on doing in November and December. My plans include adding a banner to the front of my table. I made one on Vistaprint. It was easy to make. I selected a banner that allowed me to include photos of a pair of earrings, a bracelet. and necklace. I hope that this will draw buyers to my table. I plan to put it on the front of my table cloth. This will eliminate a sign that I put on my table and free up some space for jewelry. Also, it should make my table more professional looking. November 2 is my first craft fair of the season. It is Delaware by Hand Holiday Market and it features a group of artists and artisans from Delaware. The fair is held in Dover, the capital of Delaware from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The admission is free.

I am caught up on my earrings for the AJE Earring Challenge. I got behind while on vacation in Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. Earrings are my best seller so I am focusing on adding to my selection in my Etsy store and for my craft fairs. I feel catching up with the earring challenge is good use of my time.

These are fun handmade ceramic earrings. The purple and turquoise
earrings are made with artisan crackle beads by Scorched Earth. I added
handmade purple ceramic beads by blueberribeads for their color.
Gunmetal earwires are used to compliment the gray in the crackle beads.

Mother Nature loves purple and turquoise too!

I got my inspiration for these purple and turquoise earrings from this
photo of a hot spring at Yellowstone National Park. Mother nature likes
the combination too.

These copper and brown earrings have bronze and white crackle strip
added to them. They combine handmade artisan crackle beads by Scorched Earth with copper spiral beads for a boho look. Copper earwires are
used to compliment the copper beads and brown in the crackle beads.

Hot spring in Yellowstone with lots of browns and coppers for inspiration

I love the brown and copper together. Mother Nature does too. I found this lovely brown and copper hot spring in Yellowstone National Park and I had to get a photo of it to save for inspiration.

Bag charms make great
accessories, because you can just clip them onto any type of bag. The
silver clip allows you to attach it to your bag, purse, totes, beach
bags, clutches, diaper bags, backpacks and just about anything else
you'd like to attach it to.

I carefully selected the indigo blue metallic half tone
crystals for their color and the fact that they have matte sides. I love how the color changes depending on which side you are looking. The colors worked well with the aqua czech glass that complimented the cute stripped fish.
They are attached to a large silver lobster clasp.

The next bag charm combines the tiny ZnetShowssmokey blue crystals with beads in different shades of lavender and purples. These crystals added some sparkle to the design. I added a Znet Shows conch shell pendant to it. You can give your bag a boost of personality easily with bag charms. I love the beach and summer, I think this bag charm will look great on a beach bag.

Decorate and brighten up your bag!

If you are interested in making your own bag charms or jewelry, go check out the selection of beads, findings, and crystals on the Znetshows website. Their prices are great and their customer service is wonderful!

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Reveal 17! Yes, I am late, but I have a great reason--vacation and no high speed Internet. You probably noticed that I haven't kept up with the AJE Challenge of
making a pair of earrings a week. I am determine to catch up and
complete the challenge.

Luckily I got back from visiting two national parks before the government closed them and mother nature dumped more snow on them. I visited Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming for the first time and what an experience. It is hard to say what is most spectacular-- the geysers, or flora and fauna. Old Faithful is just one of the geysers there. I saw first hand why it is called Old Faithful. It blows water and steam on a regular and predictable cycle. The other geysers do there own thing.

I loved seeing all of the different colored hot springs there. This particular one has wonderful shades of green, yellow, gray, and white, and brown. I used it for the inspiration for two new pairs of earrings.

These earrings capture the earthy shades of brown and amber in the hot springs. These starfish earrings
are made with handmade artisan polymer clay beads combined with Czech
glass beads. The beautiful polymer clay bead are by artisan
Humblebeads and are white with a tan design. The Czech glass beads have a
hint of yellow in them which goes well with the gold earwires.

The number of thermal features in Yellowstone is estimated at 10,000. The bubbling waters and pools in Yellowstone National Park are much too hot for soaking. The colors are amazing. I used this hot spring as my inspiration for the stripped earrings. I love green and this particular shade in a favorite.

By the way, have you seen the snow reports for this area for early October? I am impressed and glad we got back with just a sighting of a light snow there.